Beaches & Coast
When the north coast is too rough to swim
A flat morning in Funchal can still be a closed pool in Porto Moniz. Open the coast that faces the swell.
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Madeira's south coast and north coast do not share a sea state. A north or northwest swell hits Porto Moniz, Seixal, and Porto da Cruz while Jardim do Mar and Paul do Mar on the southwest take a different wave, and Funchal can look almost flat.
Before a swim, open the camera on the coast you are driving to, not the one nearest your hotel. Porto Moniz and Seixal for the north. Paul do Mar and Jardim do Mar for the surf towns on the southwest. White water on the rock means the pools are not a plan. The pool notes are Porto Moniz, Porto da Cruz, and Seixal.
These pictures are not a forecast and not a lifeguard. If you cannot tell whether the shore is safe, do not swim.
Related Articles
- Porto Moniz pools: which camera, and when not to drive
The main pools and the free ones by the fort are different places. The north-coast swell closes both.
- Porto da Cruz pools, before you swim
Alagoa and the pools under Penha de Águia are a different north-coast day from Porto Moniz. Two cameras cover them.
- Seixal: black sand, and the two cameras
One frame is the surf, one is the beach. Neither one is a flag system. If the shore is white, do not swim.